In Your Head
by Happycat13
Summary: Rachel awakes from a coma learning everything she thought happened after sectionals never did.  T to start may change but who knows.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Glee, or Zombie by The Cranberries who helped inspire the name of story.**

**A/N: This is pretty AU after sectionals. Being a Puckleberry fan will probably hit there at some point.**

**A/N 2: Not sure how long this first chapter will be. Possibly short. Spoilers all up to Grilled Cheesus.**

**In Your Head**

_Rachel, it's time to wake up. You've been asleep long enough_.

A pair of hazel eyes opened up to see a white and black man staring down at her. As Rachel Berry reached up to hug her fathers' from her bed, she looked down in shock as her arm was stopped with the IV and other tubes running out from her arm and across her body. "What happened? Did I fall after glee?" Her eyes recognized the hospital and her voice changed from confusion to concern. "Is Mr. Hummel still in the hospital?"

Hiram Berry, the white man, took his daughter's hand while Leroy, the black man went outside to find a nurse or doctor. "Sweetie, Kurt's father isn't in the hospital. Why would you think that?" He brushed a few strands of hair from her face before answering her earlier question. "You were in a car accident and hurt your head. There was a lot of bleeding around the brain so while that went down the doctors had you in a medically induced coma."

Rachel's eyes went wide at those words. A brain injury and coma were not something she ever expected would be placed in the same sentence as her. "I was a coma? No, it is Kurt's father that is in the coma. He had a heart attack because of a brain aneurism. He got so mad we were talking about religion."

Leroy entered back in with a doctor who sat down next to Rachel's bed. "Good to see you awake. We've been waiting and your dad's have had quite a scare. As had the others who had been keeping vigil over you."

"Waiting? How long have I been in one?" Rachel's eyes were filled with worry, unsure of what had happened.

"It was about a week after sectionals, during winter break. There was ice on the road and a car spun into your lane, we were just so happy you didn't die." Leroy sat down and took his daughter's other hand holding it tightly.

"It's about September now, so you've been in the coma healing for about 9 months. The kids from glee will be happy to hear you are awake. They've been coming by a fair amount since this happened."

"No, that can't be right. I met my mother, Finn and I are together, Quinn had her baby, and we lost regionals but still managed to get another year somehow." Rachel's voice started to crack both from the lack of use that she had during the past months as well as the shock about being in the coma.

"Ms. Berry, I'm Dr. Jamson. I'm going to talk to your fathers for a few moments, is that alright?" The doctor opened the door and waited for the other men.

As Rachel nodded her fathers rose and went outside the door, it closing slightly. _This makes no sense. I remember everything, how could I have been in a coma?_

"What happened doctor? Why does she think all of this?" Hiram was pacing outside the door, his husband finally grabbing his hand and pulling him close into his grasp.

"I'm not sure. It seems like she created some sort of a world in her head about what has been going on while she was out. I don't know how in depth things are." The doctor sighed softly looking through the window of the room at the girl with the frantic eyes.

Leroy looked past Hiram's body. "Can people see her?"

The doctor nodded quickly. "I don't know if it will help or not, but until it's clear it's something that we can try to see if answers can be given. Just try and make sure it's only a few people at a time. Having everyone show up at once would make things a little too complicated for her. She has just woken up; we don't want to do anything that may make her old injury start to act up again."

The two men went to the waiting area to call the people from school letting them know that Rachel had finally woken up from her accident.

**Next chapter will be people coming in to visit Rachel, including an AU Shelby Corcoran and Jesse St. James.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Glee, or Zombie by The Cranberries who helped inspire the name of story.**

**A/N: This is pretty AU after sectionals. Being a Puckleberry fan will probably hit there at some point.**

**A/N 2: Since Ch. 1—3 review, 3 faves, 13 alert**

**A/N 3: This is being done in sections person by person visiting. I HOPE to do all of them in one chapter but if things start getting too long/intense for my brain then it will be split.**

**A/N 4: I also have another AU idea going on so in reviews for this chapter give your idea about it. Basically Rachel's whole life has been a lie, her fathers aren't her fathers, Shelby was never her mother, and the whole Broadway desire is something that was never her direct choice**

**In Your Head**

Will

It made sense to Rachel's parents and to the teacher that rather than start with her classmates William Schuester go first. Mostly because they hoped she would have less imagination around him and it would work for them to figure out how developed her own world was hopefully. When they would start with the students the basic idea was to do those who probably had less impact on Rachel's life so it would be sensible that they would be the least likely to have a serious impact on this world she had created while out. The only ones they figured wouldn't need to see Rachel were the ones who joined in the spring semester, she never met them.

He didn't know what to expect. The first time he saw Rachel in this bed she had been covered in bruises and blood. Will and the rest of glee club saw her heal but it was always a shock to see improvement physically without anything happening mentally. He opened the door to her recovery room, finally gratefully she had been moved out of ICU, and it would make it easier for everyone to see her now. When the accident first happened it took a few days before the Berry's were able to convince the hospital that these people not only had a right to be in her room but as much as need as they did themselves.

The eyes of the young singer seemed to be blank and empty as she looked over at her Spanish teacher and glee coach. He took a seat by her bed and looked over her, trying to figure what sort of thoughts must be going through her head.

"Rachel, it's good to see you awake. How have you been feeling?" The older man was somewhat unsure of how to treat the girl before him. It had been so long since anyone had seen her around, at least around and awake.

"I've been thinking of songs for glee since you mentioned Nationals in New York. I feel it really is my duty because had I not allowed two people from a rival glee club to enter my life so intently I probably would have managed to keep us from losing Regionals last year." Rachel's eyes started to obtain a bit of brightness in the thought of planning songs.

_She thought we lost regionals? I would have figured her brain would picture us winning it. That would have been her dream._ "We didn't lose. Came in second though, but for a new glee club that was pretty impressive. And no one knows where Nationals is yet. They never release that information until around March since the competition takes place over the summer. It's always near a town of somewhere than got removed during sectionals to keep it less likely that biased judges will be found from the community."

Rachel shook her head quickly, pain starting to form. "No, that's not right." She looked past the teacher to the hall, desiring an escape. "Can you leave now please? I'm starting to get tired and would like to sleep well."

Mr. Schuester nodded and rose from his chair. "Brittany was planning on coming to visit you tomorrow. Do you think you'll be up for that?"

_Why would Brittany want to see me? Of course she may just think there's something different about being in a hospital she doesn't understand_. "I guess that would be alright." As Mr. Schuester grabbed the door in order to leave Rachel thought of one last thing to say to the teacher. "Oh, and Mr. Schuester? I'm sorry about Emma and Carl, you seemed happy with her."

_What does she mean by that? I wonder who this Carl is in her head. I'll have to let the students know to not tell her that Emma and I are engaged. The less stress we can put on her the better. That's what her doctor said._

Brittany

Getting Brittany to the hospital was not easy. Okay, to the hospital was easy, Emma drove her over there. But after three times of Brittany coming back to Emma's car after getting lost in the hospital the guidance counselor realized she was going to have to walk the young girl to the room. No one really should have been that surprised, the only times she had visited Rachel before had been with someone else.

_She looks so tiny. I wonder if I could put her in my pocket._ Brittany looked down at her clothes sighing with the fact that she actually had no pockets in the Cheerio uniform.

Unlike with her last visitor Rachel knew she was going to have to start this conversation. It was possible that the poor girl visiting her may not even remember who she was much less who Rachel was. _Really? What sort of person would make Brittany visit someone in a hospital by herself? This was not thought through at all_.

"Still planning on being the lead on every song that Mr. Schuester chooses for glee to sing this year?" Rachel tried her best to keep any scathing tone out of her voice because she knew that the girl's youthful thought process had her believe that. Plus, Brittany really would never be much of a threat to Rachel's singing.

Brittany stared at the other girl like she had two heads and stayed quiet. "It's not as noisy without you at glee. No one really yells at Mr. Schue anymore."

Rachel didn't know what to say. She knew not only had she yelled at Mr. Schuester but others including Kurt had been doing so as well. After a few more moments the blonde cheerleader rose from her seat and went to the door.

"Brittany, try to stay out of the sewers at least now. Okay?"

The girl nodded and left Rachel alone in her room. _Rachel thinks I should be lead. Wait till I tell Mr. Schuester._ It took about a half hour longer before Emma realized that Brittany must have gotten lost in the hospital and went in to look for her. Thankfully a doctor got a hold of her before Brittany was able to walk into a room someone was getting chemotherapy in.

Santana

She wasn't supposed to go next. Those two dancing fool boys were listed to see Manhands next. But Britt came back from her visit trying to understand what had gone on and ranting about something dealing with her and singing that Santana knew she was going to have to go if only to help the other girl comprehend what happened. It had been a unanimous decision that the person that would help Brittany out had to be her girlfriend and when the blonde gave Santana that pitiful look she knew that there was no way she'd be able to put off seeing the other girl.

"I don't know why Sue got so upset. You can't even tell that you had a breast enhancement. Your doctor did an exceptional job Santana." Rachel looked the other girl over quickly almost in part trying to figure out what sort of enhancements the other girl had gotten.

"No wonder people call you crazy Man—Berry." Santana shook her head at the others comments. Not only would Sylvester have her head if she had done anything to make her plastic Santana knew Brittany would get upset about a whole boob change. The other girl thought Santana was perfect in every way and even during the short period she had put highlights in her hair was enough to break Britt. "I have to be honest, I came mostly because so many people want everyone come and see you, but we've never been really close friends. So I hope you don't mind, but I think I'm going to be heading out of here now."

"Hey Santana. I don't forgive you, you know. Finn was supposed to still be a virgin when we got together, you destroyed that."

_Finnocene and me? Yeah, Rachel really is crazy._

Mike

It seems strange still seeing Rachel awake. With Matt and him pretty much only being dancers they never really had much contact with Rachel. Neither of them thought much of singing so it wasn't like they had anything she needed. Yeah, the two of them did the whole visiting her in the coma so they had a reason to see her now, but it still was strange. The two had talked about it and agreed that Mike would have a better connection.

As he pushed open the door he noticed Rachel roll her eyes. "Getting tired of everyone visiting you already?"

"More like I don't understand it. I know I've been overbearing but I have always been a friend for all of you. Sure, some of you could be friendly to me at any given time, but I know it's nothing I could ever count on." Her words were laced with a bit of venom as she spoke. "Hell I can only think of two people in that club that during their time there have become friendlier to me overall."

"Really? Yeah, we may have been asses to you that first semester off and on but even then you knew there were changes happening. But do you realized that since then we have all been in this hospital hoping, needing you to wake up?"

Rachel's eyes widened at his words. Sure, she didn't ever expect to snap at anyone like she had, especially someone as laid back and separate from everything as Mike, but things had just seemed really off more than normal with people visiting her that really never had anything to do with her before as well as the whole thing with none of them seeming to know anything about what she tried to talk to them about.

"Sorry. Of course I did always have a tendency to speak without thinking. How is your relationship with Tina going?"

Mike held back a bit of a chuckle. "I may be in a relationship, but it's sure as hell not with Tina. I'm actually dating Kurt." Trying to hold back the laughter failed at the look of shock on Rachel's face so Mike reached out and lightly fluffed her hair. With a last smile he headed out of the room and back to his car.

Matt

Hearing the story about Mike's visit made his best friend laugh. At least for him the relationship he had with Mercedes ended up falling just to a friendship so that one wouldn't end up causing a shock to Rachel's system.

When he entered Rachel's eyes carried a bit of surprise and excitement resting in them. "You came back from the school you transferred to in order to see me in the hospital? I didn't realize you thought of me as that close of a friend."

Matt didn't know what sort of conversation he was going to be able to have with the young girl in front of him if she didn't even think he was supposed to be around. "I never left McKinley." Without any other words he left her there alone.

Tina

It took Rachel a while to say anything to Tina. She couldn't mention the idea of her being with Mike since he seemed to be denying it, but Tina never had much of an effect on Rachel.

"Did I ever apologize about the whole Tonight thing? I remembered thinking after hearing about faking your stutter realizing that maybe part of the reason you wanted to sing it was because singing was an easier way for you to express yourself than speaking." Rachel didn't think she ever apologized for that, she still hadn't apologized to the glee club about chasing Sunshine away. Thankfully none of them had mentioned that hate towards her.

"No, but it's alright. That was why I wanted it though. But I've stopped my stutter so I guess it doesn't matter anymore about that. I've learned about who I am and being proud about it." Tina gave a smile towards Rachel hoping that any impression her words may hold weren't taken as her being petty towards the other girl.

"So no more needing to do Lady Gaga and acting like a vampire to keep your goth allowed by Figgins?"

"That vampire thing would be a good thing to freak Figgins out with if he ever needed it. But no, I haven't. Thanks for the idea."

Whoever was more surprised about the exchange was up for debate, but once those words were done the two started to joke back and forth. While they never spoke much during school, not because of fears of being seen together just a bit of difficulty with classes, the two had always been close friends. Most of the time when Tina didn't stand up for Rachel it came either through her own fears of being tormented or having difficulty finding the words to speak up with.

Artie

Could she talk to Artie about how Tina was with Mike? From how everything was going there was no way that he would know that his girlfriend was cheating on him and that was not something the boy in the wheelchair deserved. His visit to her was mostly quiet, Artie didn't know what to say to Rachel and Rachel kept trying to decide what she was supposed to do about the Tina and Mike thing. She didn't want to break the poor boy and either way would, she learned that just by seeing all the pain dealing with Beth.

"So how is football treating you? Beiste still enjoy having her human battering ram?" That was a safe subject. Sure he may have gotten into the football to get over Tina but this way if they started to talk about the failed relationship she wouldn't feel like she had brought it up—at least not directly.

Artie blinked, took off and cleaned his glasses, and looked at Rachel as he put them back on. "I think we're missing an important part Rachel. I would have difficult time to play football for the same reason I can't dance. Things that require the use of actual legs I have no ability to do."

Rachel was done with arguing. She didn't know why everyone seemed to want to tell her things that she knew wasn't the truth, but there didn't seem to be anything that she would be able to do about it.

Kurt

Kurt. Rachel could never figure out why the boy hated her. Okay, that was a lie; she knew that the hatred came from their love of Finn. But the way he was looking at her right now was not a look of disgust but one of pity. And in reality the only person in this room that needed pity of any sort was Kurt.

"Has your dad woken up yet?" She shifted her eyes away from him knowing the next part would be the hardest. "You were right you know. We shouldn't have continued to force our religions on you. You needed friends at that time, not prayers and none of us were really able to understand that."

"My dad's fine. He even understands why I ended up deciding to get back on the football team even though he knew that it really wasn't my thing. He hasn't been in a coma sweetie, only one person in this room has been like that. And I know the doctors told you." He looked at the hospital scrubs and shook his head.

"You get a bye on the bad clothes for now. But you are going shopping when you get out of here to actually start looking like a teenager."

She nodded. In reality, what other type of reaction would anyone expect out of her?

Mercedes

It was funny that the two other divas in the glee club visited her back to back. They were never friends at school really, but how many divas were close friends with each other, but musically the three of them had something there.

"Two questions I've been wondering about. First, did Coach Sylvester tone down her hate towards the original glee members when you and Kurt joined? And what was it like having Quinn living with you?" With each word that left her mouth, Rachel could see Mercedes's eyes grow wider with confusion.

"If I ever figure that out I'll let you know. Course I think the Sue one is much more interesting than the Quinn one. But I doubt she'd ever let Kurt or me join. This is Sue we're talking about." Mercedes reached into her bag and took out an IPod. "Thought you could use some music, don't know if your dads have dropped off your music yet. Know my stuff isn't your first choice, but it's better than nothing."

Rachel looked at the small music device and let a small smile grow across her face. "I guess when I get booted from here that means that we'll have something more to talk about during glee then."

Puck

"You know Noah, I'm not contagious or anything. You can actually come in the room and sit down." She tried to hold back laugher, the thought of Noah wanting be away from a girl wasn't a sight she was used to seeing.

Flashing his trademark smirk he walked over and pushed the chair closer to her hospital bed. "So how'd you long sleep go? And I don't think you are allowed to give me any more shit about skipping math class ever again." He smiled fully at the look of disdain Rachel gave.

"Noah, how many times am I going to have to tell you to watch your language? As much as I know you wanted Beth, I wonder what her first word would have been with you." Seeing his face darken at her words, Rachel reached out and took his head. "I'm not really being that serious you know. I should be allowed to have some fun while I'm trapped in here."

"Right." Noah pushed away from the bed and got up. "I actually wasn't going to be able to stay long; mom needs me to watch Sara. Next time, whether here or at school, I'll make sure to get you a grape slushie. It's my glad you're better present."

Even with Brittany's getting lost in the hospital Puck got out of there at a much slower pace. Of course, if he was going to put his fist through a mirror and require stitches the hospital was definitely one of the best places to do it. And even after the stitches were done, he would not have been able to answer what thing upset him to the point that he did that. The mentioning of the little girl that would never be his, or the girl who was laying in the hospital bed above.

Quinn

Quinn had just sat down when Rachel noticed something about her that was different from Santana and Brittany. "The other two came here in their Cheerio uniform. It wouldn't have pissed me off if you did the same. Just try not to become as evil as you had been."

Quinn smiled sadly at the other girl. "I haven't been able to wrap my head around being a Cheerio again. I liked what I became once I was away from Sylvester."

Rachel nodded. While the two of them were never friends—Finn, being a Gleek, and revealing Babygate kind of prevented that—what Quinn was saying was correct. Even towards Rachel she was somewhat more sympathetic. But one thing did interest her; after carrying Beth did Quinn miss her as little as Shelby had missed her.

"Noah came by yesterday, he seems to still be really upset about Beth. Are you doing alright with having given her up for adoption?"

One thing Rachel did not expect was the silent tears that started to pour down from Quinn's face. After what seemed to be around five minutes, the other girl finally found her voice. "No one told you did they? About three months from my due date I miscarried. They couldn't find a heartbeat and had to induce labor." She wiped her eyes and walked out without saying another word.

Rachel understood that she had broken the other girl slightly.

Finn

Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Finn walk into her room. She motioned for him to closer and once he did placed her lips against his in happiness. "I have missed you so much. And I must say I'm somewhat disappointed that my boyfriend was the last to visit me after waking up."

Finn placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her slightly back down to the bed. When was finally laying down Finn started to back away, looking at her the same way he did during her earlier fascinations with him. "We aren't together Rachel."

Her eyes welled up with tears and Rachel's head dropped. "And you wondered why I didn't want you playing football around people like Brittany and Santana."

"It wasn't either of them. I forgave Quinn about the whole pregnancy thing and after the miscarriage she needed someone. Puck wasn't going to be that person, he was too tied up about someone else so I was there and we just fell back in love."

Rachel turned away from Finn as much as the bed and tubes allowed her to. He almost couldn't hear the words she whispered. "I need Shelby."

Shelby/Jesse

Everyone was excited when Finn made the comment about the last words Rachel said to him. These two had never met Rachel before the accident so the only reason she would have to request either of them would be that somehow the talking they did to her had started to make way through her head. It was decided that both Shelby Corcoran and Jesse St. James were going to visit her in the hospital in case seeing them fully snapped her out of her own world.

Shelby looked like a younger version of Rachel and Jesse had cut her blondish hair into a short bob soon after joining glee. It was Brittany who that day thought a new boy had joined and that became a bit of a nickname for the other girl.

When they made it to the hospital Rachel's doctor chased them down before they could enter the room. "Rachel was talking to her fathers this morning and you can't go in there. She thinks Shelby is her birth mother and Jesse is a boy who broke her heart. She doesn't know who you are."

The next day, more tears were shed during glee.

**Next chapter I'm starting the ones about what happened to the rest of the glee members during the coma. First will be Will (and will be the chapter that Shelby and Jesse are mentioned, they don't get their own).**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Glee, or Zombie by The Cranberries who helped inspire the name of story.**

**A/N: This is pretty AU after sectionals. Being a Puckleberry fan will probably hit there at some point. Oh, and this chapter is Will's life from sectionals to seeing Rachel after waking up.**

**A/N 2: Since Ch. 2—2 faves, 5 alerts, 2 reviews**

**In Your Head**

School had been in just a week and New Directions were still excited from their win at Sectionals. They not only managed to get Finn back but winning with a completely new set list had blown them away. William Schuester had gotten to McKinley almost late for his first class, in shock that the school board hadn't cancelled classes for the day. The highway was fine, but many of the other roads had been covered in both snow and ice still, the salt and clearing the night before not working well from the amount of precipitation.

It wasn't until his third period Spanish class that he noticed something that stopped him for a few moments. Sure, the amount of students in class was much smaller than normal, many seeming to skip the day since it wasn't cancelled but he knew that Rachel would have been there, he could never think of a day she missed. He didn't know if she would if she was sick, but just the snow didn't seem like something she would back from school and glee from. Sure, he planned on cancelling, had even told some of his students so they could let the rest of the club know, but she still would have been in classes.

Two days later she still hadn't shown up and Will was not going to hold back on understanding what happened. He hoped maybe someone had gotten in touch with Emma, even though she hadn't mentioned anything the past few days. Despite the fact she wasn't ready to jump into a relationship the two had been spending a great deal of time together with both being single finally.

"Emma, have you heard if there's been some sort of family emergency that would be keeping Rachel Berry out of classes? I don't need to know what it was but she hasn't been to class the past few days and it is not like her." Will closed the door gently behind him as the woman looked at him with her big doe eyes.

"No one has told me anything. I would have thought I would hear something. Maybe we should talk to Figgins and see if he has just forgotten to let us know." Emma Pillsbury rose up from her desk and took Will's hand, the two walking down the hall to the Principal's office.

"We're concerned about why Rachel Berry hasn't been in classes. Neither of us has heard anything so we are hoping that maybe you haven't had a chance to let us know if anything has been going on." Emma took the control in talking to the principal due to William's tendency to get aggravated at the other man and the actions that he takes.

"Just this morning I got a phone call from one of her fathers. Now, I'm not sure which one, but that isn't the point. Apparently Rachel was in an accident a couple of days ago and has been put in a coma by her doctors due to the extent of the head injury. She will not be back in school for a while; they have not been able to determine how long she will be in the hospital." The Indian man looked at the two faculty members lost as to what to say or do.

"Are you alright Will?" The red head looked at him a bit of pity in her eyes. "What are you going to tell the rest of the glee students? I know you have a practice today."

"Hopefully I won't need to tell them the whole truth yet, but I'm going to have to mention the need for a new member." He hadn't looked at the other woman since leaving the office until she placed a hand on his shoulder during his words. "Do you think you can come to practice today? And maybe over to my place afterwards? I… I don't think I'm able to be alone right now."

He couldn't really remember the rest of the day going by. In fact he didn't know that it was time for glee until Emma showed up at the door explaining that the kids were wondering where he was. When he opened the door and looked at them a sigh left his lips.

"I'm not exactly sure how to go about all of this but we are in need of a new member for glee." Will saw the looks on the faces on the rest of the glee club. "Rachel won't be back for glee for a while, not sure how long though."

"Diva have another walk out?" Mercedes' eyes flashed as she caught a similar look on her best friend Kurt's face. "I mean what can she be pissed about now, we won sectionals, and with her running the show as usual."

More voices picked up trying to figure out what could have happened until Mr. Schuester walked over to Brad and slammed his hands on the keys of the piano. "Now that I have your attention again; no, she did not walk out or quit. She was in a car accident and is in a medically induced coma for the time being."

How they got through glee that day William Schuester never understood. He made the students talk to Emma and by the end of the day he was pleased when she told him they wanted to be able to have a chance to see her. Sure, he knew it was probably more for her fathers than her, but it was an action he was pleased to see.

That night was also the first time that he and Emma really talked about a relationship since leaving Terri and her rejection. She knew he was ready.

The next week no one in the club had any suggestions about someone who might be able to join so Will started putting up new signs about looking for new members for glee, even mentioning that anyone in his Spanish classes who signed up would be given extra credit. Rumors had started to spread about why Rachel was gone, many thinking (hoping) that she had finally convinced her fathers to let her move just so they wouldn't have to deal with her again.

"So you're club seems to be falling apart even without my help. And you seemed to think the only way you would have failed was me stooping low enough to give out the set list. What did someone finally come to their senses and leave the loser bin or has the stench of hair tar get them sick to their stomach that they couldn't be in the same room as you?" Sue Sylvester was hovering near the Spanish teacher, leaning the arm of her track suit against the wall.

"I am not in the mood Sue." Will pushed passed her hoping that she would drop the topic but knowing it was more likely to be a lost cause.

"Come on Will. I have to know who to thank for being able to rightfully restore my Cheerios and budget."

"No one quit. Rachel is in the hospital and may not wake up. Happy now, I know that you always were proud of your Cheerios to find a new way to bring her down." Will glared at Sue only leaving her as her face fell from the hard cold look that it normally had.

Why it was after people knew that Rachel was out of glee for a while that they were able to find two possible additions never seemed to make sense. While Mr. Schuester knew that her own teammates sometimes had a problem with Rachel's over-bareness, even he did at times to be honest, he hoped that maybe she toned it down outside of the glee room.

He found the first. A freshman in his Spanish I class had come up to him requesting to be on glee. She was around a C level student in the class so far and hoped that maybe the extra credit could bring her one below B class up to the same standard as the rest of her classes. Jesse's voice was somewhat soft but she could deliver a powerful emotion without a lot of projection. Tina actually heard the other girl singing in the bathroom a few times during the week. When Shelby first joined she had some serious stage fright but having formed a bond with the Asian girl the two were able to work past that fear as Tina explained how she had difficulty with public speaking and her need to stutter.

That was the first day he went to visit Rachel. Neither of the girls were anywhere near as good as she was, but just hopefully the two of them would complement each other and the rest of the club to at least give them a fighting chance at Regionals. In a way he was happy they were somewhat on the outskirts of the school, that reminded him of the students who first were in glee and were always strong enough to hold out despite the teasing for being on the team.

Three weeks after that, Emma came over in tears. She had been visiting Rachel when her fathers showed up and they had never known about the teasing and tormenting. Even though Rachel would always threaten telling them about things in an attempt to get her way, apparently the follow through was never there. After holding her a few hours in her arms as she cried about never noticing how Rachel didn't have any support about this and how she could have been so blind as to not actually call her parents the two had sex. It was a long process with many stops to relax the woman with obsessive compulsive disorder but things were eventually complete.

Terri moved in with her sister and signed the divorce papers when Will sent them over. At least that would be an easy battle.

He never knew if the club got second at Regionals because of their talent or because of pity. Rachel had been in the news at some point and after Quinn's miscarriage she started therapy with someone who turned out to be one of the judges. Sure, they had stopped seeing each other for sessions but that information was still present in the judge's head.

Summer was easier. He still went to see Rachel on occasion but outside of the few times another student was there he had no major reminders about the girl in the hospital. He wasn't at school walking the halls expecting to more, hear than see, the girl. The highlight of that break was when Emma accepted his proposal. The plan was the next December to follow through, neither felt the need for either a long engagement or large wedding.

It was a Saturday when his phone rang. Upon hearing the words that Rachel was awake Will sighed in relief, but the next words stopped him cold. Not knowing what had gone on the past months made sense, but the creation of her own world was something he was unprepared for.

For the first time since taking over glee, Will started and participated in the glee phone tree. The others had a right to know Rachel was awake.

**Thinking to do either Mike/Kurt, Artie/Tina or Matt/Mercedes chapter next. Give me your recommendations for the order you want or else I'll just draw from a hat. Puck/Quinn/Finn will be the last of the catch up chapters.**


End file.
